Correction of Errors Via Equitable Recoupment: Some People Still Do Not Understand

Abstract

In this article, Willis takes issue with a recent unpublished U.S. District Court decision, Hall v. U.S., in which the court considered the doctrines of mitigation and equitable recoupment in the context of an overpayment of the windfall profits tax. Willis argues that the court misinterpreted those doctrines. First, the code's mitigation provisions simply do not apply to excise taxes. Second, equitable recoupment could not apply to the facts of Hall because this doctrine does not reopen the statute of limitations to correct an error.

Keywords: Equitable Recoupment